The future of business is being driven by millennials, and you can either get in on the joy ride, or get left curbside.
Born between 1977 and 2000, they are more open-minded, educated, responsive, and connected to brands than any generation before them. They seek adventure, novelty, and experiences — all so they can document it and show the world.
Let’s be clear: being on social media isn’t enough for millennials. In fact, poorly run accounts will hurt your business more than helping you.
Here are three ways to tap into the millennial psychology on social media, and appeal to what they want to see brands doing.
1. Stand for Something
Find a cause that aligns with your brand, and find a fitting way for your brand to support that cause. It can be an activation where you ask people to do something, you add charity value to something you already offer, you ask people to engage on social, or you can make your brick-and-mortar a donation drop point.
Almost 50 per cent of millennials would be more willing to make a purchase from a company if that purchase supports a cause. It doesn’t matter what you support — just be genuine — because they can smell it a mile away if you’re not. Millennials don’t see the value in the typical sponsorship model. To them, it’s not about handing over a cheque, getting a name on the banner, and showing up for the photo op.
Also, if you have a tie to the charity or cause you are supporting, don’t be afraid to share you story! Honesty goes a long way.
2. Be Funny (If it’s Fitting)
If you can swing it, using humour can help your company talk to this generation. 80 per cent of millennials want a brand to entertain them.
There’s a way to be professional, tasteful and funny without making people mad. One piece of advice: if you have to pause for a second and think about if it will offend people, it probably will. Stay *far* away from politics, religion, sex and complaints as topics.
When it comes to some serious, don’t try to pull any funny business. Create a caring and empathetic response from the heart, or don’t post about it at all.
3, Ask and Receive
Reviews, comments and engagement are the new millennial currencies. 70 per cent of millennials feel responsible to share feedback with companies after a good or bad experience. Take them seriously.
If you have the right attitude, online feedback can give you important insight into areas of your business that could use some improvement. The ability to reply to reviews provides you with a unique opportunity to take a negative experience and turn it into a positive one.
Ask your followers to leave reviews, ask questions, encourage them to comment, run polls, and drive meaningful engagement of all kinds. Being responsive (within 24 hours) to both positive and negative engagement can help set you apart, and show you are customer/client focused.
All statistics cited are from MillennailMarketing.com (Who are millennials?).
